Angus must've taken a look at my franken-set checklist before he picked these up for me. Either that, or he has uncanny luck, as he hit on a very high percentage of new numbers for the binder with this latest delivery. Check 'em out...
1989 Topps #770 - Alan Trammell
I can't think of a much better start to a package of buybacks than a guy who's already been elected to the HOF, and who will be officially inducted this summer. I'm not a Tigers fan, but I'd imagine after twenty years with the franchise Alan's gotta be considered one of their all-time greats. Best of all, this is a nice new high number for the set at 770. This is my first Trammell buyback, nice to add a new HOFer to the binder!
1991 Topps Traded #6T - Steve Bedrosian
From there we keep rolling with a '91 Traded buyback of Steve "Bedrock" Bedrosian. Steve was dealt from San Francisco to Minnesota in December of 1990, thus his card in the flagship set in 1991 still featured with with the Giants. Not a bad card at all, I'm particularly fond of the 1991 Topps release, but...
1993 Topps #20 - Tim Salmon
Alright, this one is just plain cool. I was an impressionable ten years old during Salmon's Rookie of the Year season in 1993, and I remember him being a pretty big deal at least in my little corner of the collecting universe at the time. This one scores some serious points for being Tim's first Topps card, and for being from the actual RoY season. A Salmon buyback from any year would have been appreciated, but a '93 takes the cake. Oh, and it's another new number!
1987 Topps #30 - Tim Raines
From one star Tim to another, here's the second HOFer in this post. Raines had a fantastic year in 1987 too, hitting .330 with a career-high 18 home runs. He was named an All-Star and even made a few NL MVP ballots! Love the photo on this one too, and it's just about perfectly cropped if you ask me. Yet another new number for the binder, too.
Those aren't even the best things about this buyback though. The best thing about it...
1990 Topps #63 - Mike Pagliarulo
Here's a guy from my neck of the woods so to speak, as third baseman Mike Pagliarulo was born in Medford, Massachusetts. Mike enjoyed an 11-year MLB career patrolling the hot corner before hanging up the spikes.
1990 Topps #108 - Rod Nichols
Speaking of '90 Topps! If you don't recognize the name Rod Nichols you can forgive yourself, as he appeared in just 100 career games spread across seven seasons, with just 4 of those appearances coming in 1990. I'd love to put this one in the 1990 Topps buyback set as well but, alas, I don't have a #108 buyback yet so into the franken-set Rod goes.
1986 Topps #725 - Mario Soto
Next up we've got Mario Soto's 1986 card, which has the somewhat significant number of 725. I'm not sure exactly what's going on here, but that appears to be a woman in a sleeveless shirt over Mario's right shoulder? This one would also be in the running for "most surface area covered by the color red" within my collection. As far as the franken-set goes? You guessed it, another new number!
1988 Topps #760 - Mike Scott
Here's Mike Scott, a couple of years removed from his Cy Young-winning season, and a year before his 20-win season. Mike went a respectable 14-8 in 1988, for a mediocre Astros team that finished fifth in the NL West at just a hair above .500. Scott makes the binder by default, another new number. Angus really did some damage to the final pages of the binder with this delivery, knocking off numerous new numbers in the 700+ range.
1989 Topps #623 - Fred Toliver
How about a blue foil Rediscover Topps buyback of Twins pitcher Fred Toliver? The blue stamp kind of compliments the blue team name and banner along the bottom of the card. I'm not one who pays much attention to the color of the stamp on these 2017 buybacks, but blue is one of the rarer ones (in my experience so far only red is rarer).
1990 Topps #649 - Dan Murphy
Last card for today, yet another 1990 Topps buyback. Whoohoo! I love this one because it's about as obscure as you can possibly get. Dan played in exactly 7 Major League Baseball games. As far as I know this, and the 1990 Topps Pro Debut boxed set card, are the only two licensed MLB cards of Murphy in existence.
This one makes the binder uncontested at #649. Kind of odd that Nick sent me 1990 Topps #650 in a package just before this one. Within just a few days I've added back to back '90 Topps cards to the franken-set binder on that particular page. What are the odds of that?
Out of the ten cards in this post, Angus hit on seven new numbers. Thanks to that efficiency, I'm now over 70% complete on the franken-set overall. As if that weren't great enough, I've got two more posts of buybacks from Angus queued up after this one! Check back later this week for round two...
Franken-set Progress: 558/792 (70%)
"Rejected" Buybacks: 473
Total Buybacks in Collection: 1,031
70% and climbing! Congrats, and good job Angus for finding so many you need!
ReplyDeleteI thoroughly enjoy this set you are putting together-- It's getting rather impressive.
ReplyDeleteI have been hoarding Twins buybacks myself. They bring back a lot of memories.
Yes, I did check the wantlist. The store had so many buybacks that I looked for what you needed, and any 1990s that I could find. At the time I really wasn't aware that Traded sets weren't included. Now I know, and knowing is half the battle.
ReplyDeleteGreat batch of cards. I know the buybacks I sent are coming up, and, man, Angus will be a tough act to follow! B^)
ReplyDelete